I hate it when people try to boil it down to one issue; it's a multi-faceted issue, and its' complicated, and a lot of the reasons are tied to Nintendo's old, outdated Japanese corporate culture.
It's not just that its a weird concept that appeals to few outside of Japan - handheld gaming is a joke outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. Worldwide, mobile kills all, casually. In other Eastern nations like S.Korea and China, Online and PC Gaming are the kings of hardcore, while everywhere else, consoles are king. There's literally zero reason to make the focus of this the Gamepad - why would anyone want a console that asks you to look away from your big, beautiful HD screen? People who are like, "Someone else wants to watch Netflix" - you can have more than one TV. Like, they're cheap. Go to Best Buy and Wal-Mart right now if that kind of thing is a problem. Jeez louise. Its such a niche concept.
Then there's the thing where they underpower it, because its' more than enough for THEM. Except it absolutely wasn't - Monolith Soft was CLEARLY compromised in several places when making Xenoblade Cross. It barely could be crushed onto the damn disc and hard drive! THEY'RE SO CHEAP, ITS STARTING TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE EVEN THEIR OWN DEVS CAN BARELY USE THEIR MACHINE!
And of course, that kills all support insofar as Western devs are concerned. If you can't even hold a game that's new on your disc or in your hard drive, gtfo.
As far as Japanese support goes, Sony and STEAM kill Nintendo these days. Japanese devs have thankfully realized that they can't survive on 3DS alone, and have started porting/remastering so many games to consoles and PCs. And that's where they have to go if gamers internationally are to care.
Plus, this was just bad for Nintendo. They've spent over a decade making games to Gamecube specs, with Wii and 3DS hardware not evolving far enough beyond that. You throw them an HD console after 7+ years of them ignoring it, you think they're going to be good at it? Heck no; so many games they put out on the Wii U were worse-looking than Gamecube games running on the Dolphin emulator. They didn't learn how to sculpt things for higher detail model, they didn't learn how to light their games better... I mean, there were a few exceptions (the Splatoon and Mario Kart teams figured out lighting), but mostly they just looked poor. Mario 3D World looks noticeably worse than, and is absolutely less ambitious than, Mario Galaxy.
Speaking of less ambitious, that defines their first party lineup so much. I have no idea who would buy a Wii U to play Mario 3D World. It's so clearly an unambitious straight followup to Mario 3D Land! Donkey Kong got a super safe direct follow up, their stupid Mii games got a super safe follow up, etc. So many boring, or misguided (Star Fox Zero) sequels and little else. Smash and Mario Kart only pleased the people who were already Nintendo fanboys; it didn't grow their audience. When they did go outside the lines, like with Splatoon and Mario Maker, they started to see a little bit of a turn around, but its really clear that their output was defined so much more by "Well, we need a game this Holiday" or whatever than it was "I'M INSPIRED! LETS DO SOMETHING AWESOME!". Really pathetic.
Speaking of less inspired, they wasted their time making sure their digital output was just pushing out the same VC titles as before, instead of overhauling their online infrastructure and just bringing over the games they ALREADY ported to the Wii Virtual Console. They're so inefficient!
Like, everything about them these days is defined by such old-fashioned, out-of-touch thinking. It really sucks. Holding them up next to Sony, who is constantly trying to make other devs happy with their hardware, overhauling their online infrastructure, making sure they have amazing teams all over the World (NOT just Japan), and putting out such, such amazing games constantly... its ridiculous.
I don't know what they're doing at Nintendo. But they're just really out of touch. The Wii U's failure was tied to that. All of their failures are, these days. Any of their successes are accidental and, increasingly, tied less and less to games - they're certainly doing a good job with merchandise at least.
You know what game was actually really simple and fun? The shameless Adventures of Lolo ripoff, Mouse House for Wiiware. I mean, that's okay - not like HAL Laboratories is gonna bring back at "Eggerland"... ever, so go ahead and rip it off! Big John Games made a fantastic little puzzle-y throwback title that tapped into the same kind of addictive play as Lolo and Mole Mania.
I guess because this was also about a mouse, and it sort of resembled it on a base level due to the top down camera, I was hoping this would be surprisingly fun despite being simple as well. But it's clear that the guys and gals at Big John are several magnitudes more skilled than RC Madiax.
Especially since the modern Nintendo has neither the vision nor the manpower to continually service their longer-in-the-tooth franchises properly (like F-Zero or Star Fox), and they're so xenophobic that they refuse to look to outside (Japan, anyway) developers for help here. One of the best, and most obvious, ways they could be keeping their IP relevant - and making them profitable - would be to exploit them. Especially if that would yield some more product like the excellent Star Fox anime there (I would also totally love to see a Jim Henson Star Fox show using those amazing puppets!).
Movies, cartoons, comics/manga, anime, action figures, etc. Why isn't there a line of "F-Zero" RC cars from the "World of Nintendo" people at Jakks Pacific? Why don't they have a series of "Young Adult Novels" set in the Trace Memory world? A beach towel that says "StarTropics" on it (that's about all I got there, lol)?
They absolutely should be sitting on an IP Empire these days; for people who do, and don't, play video games. But besides sporadic victories like the Nintendo Cereal System, there are just so many missed opportunities from them over the past 4 decades. smh
I loathe this junk. Trying to cheat their way to a few sales using that colorful, cute, charming promotional art as a wrapper and then hoping some people hit that purchase button before they notice the in-game "presentation" are just squares.
Jeez louise; I've seen some lazy indie devs in these times, but this takes the cake. :/
This makes lazily taking free assets from the Unity store and cobbling them together into a "follow the tutorial"-level production look like freakin' Uncharted 4.
This James Montagna shouldn't even bother putting games out if this is all he's going to bring to the table. If all you have in you as an artist and creator is just a few colored squares, stop, and just tell people to go move around some pegs on an old Lite Brite board they have in the closet instead. It's the exact same amount of video game, and fun, that could possibly be found here.
I know Nintendo's not exactly swimming in tons of options for indie games to put on their digital stores, but I'm still insulted that Nintendo would even allow this kind of thing on the eShop, TWICE now >
Comments 4
Re: ​Reggie Fils-Aime on Why the Wii U Was Misunderstood
I hate it when people try to boil it down to one issue; it's a multi-faceted issue, and its' complicated, and a lot of the reasons are tied to Nintendo's old, outdated Japanese corporate culture.
It's not just that its a weird concept that appeals to few outside of Japan - handheld gaming is a joke outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. Worldwide, mobile kills all, casually. In other Eastern nations like S.Korea and China, Online and PC Gaming are the kings of hardcore, while everywhere else, consoles are king. There's literally zero reason to make the focus of this the Gamepad - why would anyone want a console that asks you to look away from your big, beautiful HD screen? People who are like, "Someone else wants to watch Netflix" - you can have more than one TV. Like, they're cheap. Go to Best Buy and Wal-Mart right now if that kind of thing is a problem. Jeez louise. Its such a niche concept.
Then there's the thing where they underpower it, because its' more than enough for THEM. Except it absolutely wasn't - Monolith Soft was CLEARLY compromised in several places when making Xenoblade Cross. It barely could be crushed onto the damn disc and hard drive! THEY'RE SO CHEAP, ITS STARTING TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE EVEN THEIR OWN DEVS CAN BARELY USE THEIR MACHINE!
And of course, that kills all support insofar as Western devs are concerned. If you can't even hold a game that's new on your disc or in your hard drive, gtfo.
As far as Japanese support goes, Sony and STEAM kill Nintendo these days. Japanese devs have thankfully realized that they can't survive on 3DS alone, and have started porting/remastering so many games to consoles and PCs. And that's where they have to go if gamers internationally are to care.
Plus, this was just bad for Nintendo. They've spent over a decade making games to Gamecube specs, with Wii and 3DS hardware not evolving far enough beyond that. You throw them an HD console after 7+ years of them ignoring it, you think they're going to be good at it? Heck no; so many games they put out on the Wii U were worse-looking than Gamecube games running on the Dolphin emulator. They didn't learn how to sculpt things for higher detail model, they didn't learn how to light their games better... I mean, there were a few exceptions (the Splatoon and Mario Kart teams figured out lighting), but mostly they just looked poor. Mario 3D World looks noticeably worse than, and is absolutely less ambitious than, Mario Galaxy.
Speaking of less ambitious, that defines their first party lineup so much. I have no idea who would buy a Wii U to play Mario 3D World. It's so clearly an unambitious straight followup to Mario 3D Land! Donkey Kong got a super safe direct follow up, their stupid Mii games got a super safe follow up, etc. So many boring, or misguided (Star Fox Zero) sequels and little else. Smash and Mario Kart only pleased the people who were already Nintendo fanboys; it didn't grow their audience. When they did go outside the lines, like with Splatoon and Mario Maker, they started to see a little bit of a turn around, but its really clear that their output was defined so much more by "Well, we need a game this Holiday" or whatever than it was "I'M INSPIRED! LETS DO SOMETHING AWESOME!". Really pathetic.
Speaking of less inspired, they wasted their time making sure their digital output was just pushing out the same VC titles as before, instead of overhauling their online infrastructure and just bringing over the games they ALREADY ported to the Wii Virtual Console. They're so inefficient!
Like, everything about them these days is defined by such old-fashioned, out-of-touch thinking. It really sucks. Holding them up next to Sony, who is constantly trying to make other devs happy with their hardware, overhauling their online infrastructure, making sure they have amazing teams all over the World (NOT just Japan), and putting out such, such amazing games constantly... its ridiculous.
I don't know what they're doing at Nintendo. But they're just really out of touch. The Wii U's failure was tied to that. All of their failures are, these days. Any of their successes are accidental and, increasingly, tied less and less to games - they're certainly doing a good job with merchandise at least.
Re: Review: SUPER ROBO MOUSE (Wii U eShop)
You know what game was actually really simple and fun? The shameless Adventures of Lolo ripoff, Mouse House for Wiiware. I mean, that's okay - not like HAL Laboratories is gonna bring back at "Eggerland"... ever, so go ahead and rip it off! Big John Games made a fantastic little puzzle-y throwback title that tapped into the same kind of addictive play as Lolo and Mole Mania.
I guess because this was also about a mouse, and it sort of resembled it on a base level due to the top down camera, I was hoping this would be surprisingly fun despite being simple as well. But it's clear that the guys and gals at Big John are several magnitudes more skilled than RC Madiax.
I wish Big John would make a Mouse House 2...
Re: Editorial: Nintendo Should Shamelessly Exploit Its IPs to the Full
100% agreed.
Especially since the modern Nintendo has neither the vision nor the manpower to continually service their longer-in-the-tooth franchises properly (like F-Zero or Star Fox), and they're so xenophobic that they refuse to look to outside (Japan, anyway) developers for help here. One of the best, and most obvious, ways they could be keeping their IP relevant - and making them profitable - would be to exploit them. Especially if that would yield some more product like the excellent Star Fox anime there (I would also totally love to see a Jim Henson Star Fox show using those amazing puppets!).
Movies, cartoons, comics/manga, anime, action figures, etc. Why isn't there a line of "F-Zero" RC cars from the "World of Nintendo" people at Jakks Pacific? Why don't they have a series of "Young Adult Novels" set in the Trace Memory world? A beach towel that says "StarTropics" on it (that's about all I got there, lol)?
They absolutely should be sitting on an IP Empire these days; for people who do, and don't, play video games. But besides sporadic victories like the Nintendo Cereal System, there are just so many missed opportunities from them over the past 4 decades. smh
Re: Review: Dodge Club Party (Wii U eShop)
I loathe this junk. Trying to cheat their way to a few sales using that colorful, cute, charming promotional art as a wrapper and then hoping some people hit that purchase button before they notice the in-game "presentation" are just squares.
Jeez louise; I've seen some lazy indie devs in these times, but this takes the cake. :/
This makes lazily taking free assets from the Unity store and cobbling them together into a "follow the tutorial"-level production look like freakin' Uncharted 4.
This James Montagna shouldn't even bother putting games out if this is all he's going to bring to the table. If all you have in you as an artist and creator is just a few colored squares, stop, and just tell people to go move around some pegs on an old Lite Brite board they have in the closet instead. It's the exact same amount of video game, and fun, that could possibly be found here.
I know Nintendo's not exactly swimming in tons of options for indie games to put on their digital stores, but I'm still insulted that Nintendo would even allow this kind of thing on the eShop, TWICE now >